While too late for a four-year-old girl who was reduced to “skin and bones” and died while in a Regina couple’s care, the Ministry of Social Services says there are now more checks in the system.

“Our thoughts go out to the family and the community. This is a deeply tragic situation,” Natalie Huber, executive director with the ministry’s child and family programs said in an emailed statement.

The ministry declined to make anyone available for an interview, but Huber said in the statement: “There have also been significant changes to the person of sufficient interest (PSI) program over the past two to three years to strengthen it.” Those changes include more monitoring of children.

The PSI program came under criticism during the trial for Kevin and Tammy Goforth. On Saturday, a jury convicted Tammy of second-degree murder and her husband Kevin of manslaughter in the death of a four-year-old girl. They were also convicted of unlawfully causing bodily harm to the girl’s then two-year-old sister. The girls can’t be named under a court-imposed publication ban.

After the verdicts, a spokesperson for the victims’ family told the Leader-Post: “Social Services failed them.”

The Goforths became the girls’ legal guardians under a PSI, and the children were to remain in their care until age 18. Once a court order placed the children in the Goforths’ legal custody, the girls ceased to be considered in the care or custody of Social Services.

Child protection worker Alicia Ward testified at the trial that the children were placed in the home on Nov. 8, 2011 and the court order naming the Goforths as PSI guardians was issued Jan. 19, 2012. Under “contact standards” in place at the time, Ward said she went to the home only one further time, in December 2011, and saw only the four-year-old. Within eight months, the girls were in dire condition.

The Crown contended the youngsters were denied adequate food, fluids and medical attention, and became severely dehydrated and malnourished — evident in photos showing protruding ribs and the gaunt faces of formerly chubby-cheeked kids. The four-year-old died Aug. 2, 2012 and her sister was treated and recovered. Bruises and wounds also suggested the girls had been restrained at times, according to experts.

Following the death, then-social services minister June Draude, in speaking to reporters at the legislature, said she had directed ministry staff to make a home visit for all young children under PSIs.

In declining to provide anyone for an interview, the ministry’s statement said it can’t speak about specific cases due to confidentiality provisions in The Child and Family Services Act.

The government said changes to the PSI program came about as a result of two “extensive reviews.”

Under the changes, a child must remain in the ministry’s care for a minimum of six months while living with a caregiver to allow for monthly monitoring and assessment. It’s intended to ensure the safety of the child before the ministry seeks a PSI order through the courts. Prior to the policy change, there was no minimum time frame set out in policy before a worker could seek a PSI order.

After a PSI order has been issued, the ministry is required at a minimum to conduct an annual review, which includes face-to-face contact with both the caregiver and the child to assess their needs, determine if there are changes to circumstances and provide any additional supports to the family to meet these needs. Those meetings can occur with greater frequency based on the needs of the child or caregiver, Huber said.

“We also have stringent, comprehensive accountability measures in instances where a child sustains critical injuries or passes away while in care, so we can learn everything we can to prevent similar situations from occurring again,” Huber added. The Children’s Advocate Office also does its own independent review.

The issues may also be subject to further scrutiny in the civil courts.

In 2012, the girls’ mother sued the province for negligence. The government responded with a statement of defence and also successfully applied to the courts to have the Goforths added as defendants under a law known as “contributory negligence.”

In its statement of defence, the government says there was a “home study,” dated Nov. 17, 2011 (dated nine days after the children went to live there) and it concluded their placement with the couple was “appropriate,” and that they received “positive” references. (As with the statement of claim, a statement of defence includes allegations not yet proven in court.)

In its defence, the province says it never received any complaints about the girls while in the Goforths’ care, blames the couple for the cause of the children’s injuries, and adds “this type of conduct was not reasonably foreseeable.” It also alleges the biological mother consented to the order designating Tammy Goforth as a PSI and “failed to communicate” with the children.

In their statement of defence filed in March last year, the Goforths denied abusing children in their care or of ever being negligent in caring for any children.